6-3 Costs A Fortune. Where To Get A Good Deal?

I was given a table saw from about 1960 - actually a very good machine - it would cost a fortune nowadays, but a friend who felt he owed me one gave it to me before he moved to Florida. It has a 1 HP motor that has always worked fine and has worked fine for me in tests, but the cord is an old 2-wire version, and I want to replace it with a new cord.



The manual says to use a 10 gauge wire (the cord is about 6' long). I want to replace it with a 3-wire, grounded cord. Do I simply run the neutral wire on the new cord where the old white wire was, the black wire to where the old black wire was, and connect the ground to the chassis?



The switch is a single throw, double pole switch, by the way.



Here's a link to the manual, if that helps anyone: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=2007
      

Electrical novice here.... I think calling myself even a novice is too much credit.

The good thing is I'm not the one that did the work....



My question is about votls/amps/wats correlations.



Long sorry short ... I have in floor heating wire that was installed - this is not the typical off-the-shelf type (have a friend in the home products biz and he picked this up for me on a recent trip to china).



I am trying to estimate usage costs come winter time... but something just does not sound right to me...



It is 18W/220V heat wire...



        Have 120/240 Volt Main Service



Is the calculation correct:



Power       18w per meter and i have 220 meters (700 Ft)   

 

- total power is 220m*18w/m, if your voltage is 240V, the Amps will be 220*18/240v=16.5A.



If correct - That means this is going to be insanely expensive to run - correct?


      

Would it be cost effective to use 12/2 wire to run 15amp circuits?



I read that using 12/2 wire instead of 14/2 wire on a 15amp circuit will reduce the energy loss from voltage drop over the distance travled. A 2% voltage drop



The book gives the example of 200 ft carrying 120volts on 14 AWG will drop 8 volts, with 12 AWG the loss would only be 3 volts. and then adds this "The apparent savings in initial cost by using undersize wire is soon offset by the cost of power wasted in the wires and by the reduction in efficiency of lamps, motors and so on."



the book is "Wiring Simplified" by H.P Richter
      

I am replacing the fan in one of our guest bedrooms and thought it would also be a good time to replace the switch.  Currently there is one switch to turn the fan and light on/off. 



I'd like to put the fan and light on two separate switches.  It appears that 12/3 or 14/3 is already in place (white, black and red/pink wires in switch enclosure w/ bare copper for ground).  I'd also like to make the light dimmable and the fan speed adjustable from these switches.  Could anyone recommend a good switch(es) to accomplish this?
      

I was going to put this in this thread  Junction box in stud wall behind drywall?  but, decided to start a new one.



Two nights ago while sitting in my kitchen the can lights in my soffits above my cabinets suddenly went out. At first I thought my daughter or her boyfriend was messing with me and reached around the corner and flipped the switch. Nope. Tried the other switch near me and nothing. Everything else in the kitchen worked.



Thinking tripped breaker for a moment...nope other lights work on the circuit. Can't be 6 CFL's burnd out at the same time. Hmmmmm?



Background:

Kitchen was remodeled 12 years ago. Drywall was in good shape so not removed. Added circuits for Fridge, Microwave, Garbage disposal, Stove (gas),Dishwasher, range hood, and countertop recepts. None of these are tied to lights. Original task lighting was 4' tubes over countertops above cabinets. Remodel added sofits and can lights from these two feeds



Started tracing circuit path to look for loose/broken wire. Found no power at lights. Checked power at breaker...Good. Follow wire to kitchen, no junctions. Wire disapears up into wall below the switch area. Check for power at switch box. Yep, power there. Power off and pigtail Neutral/hot  wires at a can light together. No continuity on the load side of the switch circuit. Broken wire somewhere between the switch and the lights. Fortunaly there is an attic space above the kitchen. Unfortunatly, it is a short headroom ~3' or less and full of blown ihn insulation. In I go to trace the wire.  after about 10 min up there I found the burried junction box. At some time in the past there used to be a single light in the center of the "U" shaped kitchen cabinets. This was abandoned and the box was drywalled over...still in the location for the light hookup so the cover was not readily accessable. found a tightly twisted Ground, Neutral and Hot with nuts. All looked good untill I Started messing with them. found that one of the hot leads had broken right at the insulation on the wire. Looking at it closer I could see some arc burn at the break. I am thinking that when the handy hack that did the job nicked the wire he did not know or care and tristed it together anyway. It took over, to my best guess, 20 years for it to fail.



Moral... It can happen
      

I have been looking for a "GOOD" circuit breaker finder and have always had good luck with Amprobe products.

The one I was looking at is here http://www.zorotools.com/g/Circuit%2...ders/00052552/





There are six more on this link  http://www.zorotools.com/s/?c=&q=cir...er&1.x=0&1.y=0

The Amprobe unit is $63,does anyone have the Amprobe model ?

Do you you like it and is it reliable?
      

Greetings,



I am looking to wire a sub-panel in my barn to support a general workshop.  Loads would include standard woodworking tools (including 220V table saw), welding, air compressor, etc.



The house has 200AMP main breaker and minimal in-house loads.  Dryer is gas, Oven and cooktop are gas.  Water heater is off the oil furnace.  I think the biggest single load is the well-pump and/or fridge compressor.  We do have sporadic toaster oven, hairdryers etc.  Otherwise its just lights, ceiling fans, flat-panel tv, stereo...



We had 4" conduit installed to the barn, so there is plenty of room to pull a big cable.  The entire run from the house panel to the barn totals around 155' (probably less, but rounding up)



My questions a



Can I pull a 100AMP sub-panel from my main house panel as described?


Would 4/0,4/0,4/0,2/0 aluminum service entrance cable be a good choice for this run?  Could I do it with something lighter?


Could I put an additional sub-panel in the garage (about halfway to the barn) by interrupting the run?  The garage subpanel would have a 220V plug for possible welding and/or electric car charging.  Would this require a separate run?


Are there any other considerations I should be thinking about in planning this?




Thanks for any thoughts you can share on this! 



Cheers,



pete
      

Ya know when your g/f or wife says, 'Don't you DARE talk down to me?'... well, I AIN'T your g/f or wife but what i IS is so DYI challenged that anything but the most basic explanation will cause my brain to short circuit.



To prove how DYI-tarded I am, I bought a used staking washer/dryer because it was what I could afford.. but now I can't plug it in. The plug is a large crows-foot deal but my outlets are standard USA deals.



I know it can't be as simple as changing the cord to a standard 3-prong.





KENMORE STACKING WASHER/DRYER  MODEL NO:  417.90802992

WASHER 120/240V

DRYER   240V

APPROX 4 YEARS OLD

EXCELLENT CONDITION



... the part number on the plug is E11808



Any suggestions (unless i starts with 'shove it up your') are appreciated.



Thank you - Mick
      

We recently purchased an apartment complex built in 1950. Inspector's report advised us to upgrade the main electrical panel (fuse box) on the  outside of the building. He also advised us to relocate fuse boxes in closets stating it is unsafe and a fire hazard.

We met with several electricians to get a quote. It's so confusing because everybody says different things... 



FUSE BOXES IN THE CLOSET: One electrician advised us to flip the panel into the bathroom(closet is adjacent to bathroom) and install a breaker instead of a fuse box, another electrician claimed it's not up to code to have breakers in the bathroom.



MAIN PANEL OUTSIDE THE BUILDING: One electrician advised us to upgrade the amperage (currently 30 amps), the other claimed it's an unnecessary change that drives the cost up since we do not have any appliances that require high amperage: no washers or dryers.

So confusing. I want the property to be SAFE for our tenants, but cost-efficient for us. Any thoughts?

thank you.
      

How do I replace a range hood for an over the range microwave?